Why do virtually all humans today live in large-scale societies organized as states? A new book by Peter Turchin, from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH), offers an answer based on analysis of data from more than 800 societies: warfare drove humanity's transformation from small nomadic bands to the complex civilizations that dominate our world.

For years, researchers have puzzled over how the ancient people of Rapa Nui did the seemingly impossible and moved their iconic moai statues. Using a combination of physics, 3D modeling and on-the-ground experiments, a team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has confirmed that the statues actually walked – with a little rope and remarkably few people.

Archaeologists have revealed new insights into how the world’s first farming villagers formed communities, moved across the land and responded to outsiders.